


He'll Be Home Soon

by safety_dancer



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Gen, and i love death and dying so i wrote this, but like soft angst, in his familys pov, lance is the baby of his family and this revelation BROKE me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-23
Updated: 2017-07-23
Packaged: 2018-12-05 21:37:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11586687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/safety_dancer/pseuds/safety_dancer
Summary: Lance would be coming home to them soon.All they had to do was wait.





	He'll Be Home Soon

**Author's Note:**

> apologizing ahead of time im so sry

It's silent around the dinner table but for the light sound of clinking silverware. The atmosphere--normally energetic and loud and happy--is subdued, as it has been for the past few weeks. Even the younger kids are quiet, their faces drawn into little frowns as they poke at their plates.

“Grandma,” Christopher's voice is small as he looks up with watery blue eyes. “When is Uncle Lance coming home?”

The question causes everyone to freeze up. Mom’s chest _hurts_ , but she still offers the most hopeful smile she can muster. “Soon, love,” she says, blinking rapidly as her own eyes start to fill with unbidden tears. “He will return soon. He loves his little nieces and nephews far too much to stay away for long.”

“No more questions,” Maria, Lance’s eldest sister and Christopher’s mother, admonishes her son gently. She's clutching her fork hard enough to turn her knuckles white, and her smile is taunt. “Eat up, then you can go play outside with your cousins.”

Her husband touches a hand to her shoulder and she swallows hard, trying to take deep breaths as her throat closes in on itself. “I- I think I might lay down for a bit,” she says after a moment, her voice cracking at the end of her sentence. She pushes the chair back and quickly walks from the kitchen, her shoulders shaking with suppressed sobs. Her husband follows after her, Mom watching them go as she struggles not to cry herself.

“Christopher,” she says, “Why don't you go play before desert, hm? Elena, Robert, you two go with him. I'll call you all in when dessert is ready.”

The children nod, hop down from their chairs and head for the back door. Christopher hesitates, casting a worried glance in the direction his parents had gone, before slowly letting himself out into the backyard.

Mom’s facade of gentle reassurance cracks as soon as the kids are out of sight. Her fork clatters on the tabletop when she drops it to bring her hands up to cover her face, tears already slipping past her fingers. Dad pushes his chair back and quickly takes her into his arms. She buries her face in his shoulder and cries. He closes his eyes, pain etched on his face and making him look much older than his forty-five years.

“He's _okay_ , Mom,” says Ryan, Lance’s older- and only- brother. “Lance is _coming home_.” He says this every night, his voice steady and sure. His stormy blue eyes, so very similar to his little brother's, are filled with a hope that hasn't dimmed since day one, and Mom finds strength looking into them. “Lance is a smart kid,” he continues, “Wherever he is, whatever he's doing, he's _okay._ ” He smiles, a shaky smile, but genuine. “He always has some sort of trick up his sleeve. He can handle anything.”

Sophia, the second oldest sister, leans towards Ryan from across the table, lips turned up in a quirky grin despite her reddened eyes. “Remember the time he was watching the kids and he had them all hide when we got home? He pretended he had lost them, and had us all in _hysterics_ looking for them!”

Sophia’s husband, Mark, huffs out a laugh. “I've _never_ seen Maria so angry in my entire _life_ ,” he says. Sophia cracks up, Ryan joining her as they share the memory, and suddenly the atmosphere isn't so heavy.

“I thought _for sure_ that Maria would beat him up,” Ryan chuckles as their laughs die down. “Honestly, I'm still not sure how Lance managed to avoid her wrath.”

“I'm not sure either,” Maria says from the kitchen doorway. She came in when she heard the laughter, her cheeks still tear-stained, but a new sparkle in her eyes.

“Lance always seems to get away with everything,” Dad pipes up, looking down at Mom with a smile that crinkles his eyes at the corners. “You turned him into a brat.”

“He's the _family_ _baby_ , that's how it _works_ ,” Mom says. Her eyes still threaten to spill more tears, but she's smiling softly.

Sophia scoffs. “That wasn't how it worked when _I_ was the youngest.”

“You were the youngest for a whopping year and a half before Ryan came along, dear.”

“Yeah, Soph," Maria snickers. "Besides, Lance played the part of the “innocent child” better than you ever could have.”

That started off more playful bickering between the siblings. Mom brushed her tears away as she listened to them tease each other. It would have been perfect with Lance there, and the family all together again, _finally_.

Lance would be coming home to them soon.

All she had to do was wait.

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback is always appreciated


End file.
